Friday, February 1, 2008

Ikebana lesson 02/01/2008

(1) Jingmei: Basic slanting, nageire

(2) Coni: Basic upright, nageire

(3) Jingmei: No. 1 Variation, upright, moribana

(4), (5), (6): Basic upright

When you make arrangements, the first thing you need to keep in mind is to recognize shin, soe, and hikae. Always. The basic flower form study is the training to understand the relations of these three elements. Almost always arranging shin first. In free style, this dictates your design. (Though in free style you don't always need to arrange shin first.) Soe, a nice transition between Shin and Hikae, is more a supporting role. In fact , in No. 4 variation, soe is purposely missing. Hikae, literally means control, is more a focal point of the arrangement. The roles of shin and soe are to bring out hikae to its best. Therefore the arrangement looks best.